The Nichols Family News: Abigail’s Hand, Part III

Abigail with Dr. Freet

After surgery the only thing we had to worry about was keeping her from getting her hand wet and changing the dressing on her leg as best we could. We had to wait five days after surgery until our next appointment with Dr. Freet. After five days he said he would be able to tell if the surgery had been successful or not.

My mom stayed with us for the rest of the week following Abigail’s surgery, which was a huge help. Hannah really enjoyed spending some time on her own with my mom while were spending time at doctor’s appointments.

When it was time for Abigail’s appointment, we were very anxious to see what the result was. It seemed like it took Dr. Freet an hour to unwrap her huge cast. He finally got to the end and uncovered her hand. I was speechless at first and wasn’t sure what to think. He said right away that it looked great and was exactly like it was supposed to look at this phase of recovery. That was reassuring because I was just shocked. It wasn’t until then that the appearance of her hand actually matched the severity of her injury. Prior to surgery, her hand looked ok except the skin was grey where the burn was. This looked very bad to me. Much worse than the odd looking grey skin. Dr. Freet said this was normal and don’t worry. It wouldn’t be like this for long and as time passed the skin would change and heal more and more.

He gave new instructions for how to keep her hand wrapped, more miracle cream to treat the painful second degree burns around the new skin and new dressings and instructions for her leg. I became very well acquainted with coban wraps. I never knew what that sticky gauze stuff that sticks to itself, but not your skin was called. But we soon had a case of it in a variety of neon colors in our house. Abigail’s highlight of the day was to pick out the new color of her coban every night for the next few weeks.

We made weekly trips to see Dr. Freet for the rest of July and into the first two weeks of August until the skin was completely healed. It is amazing to think the wound was healed in just a matter of weeks, but it was. The only big inconvenience was that while the skin was healing we could not get it wet at all. That meant no swimming and we had to wrap her had in plastic at bath time. Chris and I would take turns taking Hannah swimming when he got home from work every couple of days. This was the summer that Hannah became a competent independent swimmer and it wasn’t fair to her we had to avoid pools because of Abigail’s hand, so we got in as much pool time for Hannah as possible. We spent time at the Imax, several different museums and saw every kid friendly movie that came out and had several indoor play dates with friends.

One of the biggest things we missed during this healing time was spending time on our boat. We had planned a trip to Lake Texoma that had to be rescheduled. We went along with Dr. Freet’s prediction that she would be healed by the second week of August and re-scheduled for then. Thankfully it was healed and we all got to enjoy an end of summer/birthday celebration vacation at Lake Texoma with plenty of boating fun.

After Abigail’s hand healed, she had to begin to wear a burn compression garment. This garment is intended to prevent the new skin from becoming a keloid scar and is very tight on her hand. A keloid is a very thick scar that can impair her ability to use her hand, which we do not want to happen. After getting the all clear from the occupational therapist, we met with the burn garment specialist. She sized every part of her fingers, palm and wrist. Abigail picked out the colors of her two garments, purple and pink, and within two weeks we picked them up, and she was on her way to the next phase of recovery. She has to wear her glove all day everyday and all night. It is only removed at bath time and then the other one is put on or it has to be changed if it gets wet.

The first few days of having to use the garment were very difficult. Trying to explain to an almost three year old how to hold out her hand, open her fingers and push into the glove was not easy. And I also had to find a way to insert the silicone inserts that are placed on top of the scar in there too without stretching it out. It was very frustrating because the gloves are so very small and tight, but we figured it our after about three days. Changing her glove has become part of our routine now and we can do it super fast compared to when we started.

Abigail sees Dr. Freet every two months for him the check her hand and make sure it is still healing as it should. She loves to go see him and she calls him “silly Dr. Freet”. The first couple of times we saw him after surgery her bandages on her leg would always fall down her leg after he would wrap it and she thought it was hilarious and would laugh at him. He always says how amazed he is that her hand injury hasn’t slowed her down and she just plays and uses her hand as if nothing has happened, which the occupational therapist says is a very good thing. We go back at the end of this month and hopefully he will tell us she doesn’t need to wear her glove anymore. Dr. Freet said patients with her type of burn usually wear garments for 12-18 months so if he says her scar is mature and won’t change anymore I will be so excited, as I know Abigail will be as well.

Abigail has done so well with her glove and I am always surprised at how many people comment on her cute little glove and think it is just another little girl dress up accessory. I know if she had been older with this injury it would have been a different story so I am thankful that is not the case.

Below are the pictures I have taken of her hand from the time her cast was removed up until last week. I take pictures every two-three weeks so you can definitely see a change as time goes on and the scar changes. I debated about sharing these pictures because they are a little overwhelming; at least the first few pictures are to me. Now her hand looks a million times better so that isn’t hard to look at, but the early pictures are very different. View at your own risk!

***Update*** Abigail no longer has to wear her burn garment for 24 hours! She only has to wear it at night now. She goes back to see Dr. Freet at the end of August and he thinks at that point she will be done with the burn garments permanently. Dr. Freet said her hand looks great and she still has no loss of movement in her hand and wrist!